स्वदेहोद्भूताभिर्घृणिभिरणिमाद्याभिरभितः
निषेव्ये नित्ये त्वामहमिति सदा भावयति यः।
किमाश्चर्यं तस्य त्रिनयनसमृद्धिं तृणयतः
महासंवर्ताग्निर्विरचयति नीराजनविधिम्॥
svadehodbhūtābhirghṛṇibhiraṇimādyābhirabhitaḥ
niṣevye nitye tvāmahamiti sadā bhāvayati yaḥ |
kimāścaryaṁ tasya trinayanasamṛddhiṁ tṛṇayataḥ
mahāsaṁvartāgnirviracayati nīirājanavidhim ||
sva dehodbhūtābhir – originating from Your body; ghṛṇibhi – because of the rays; aṇimādyābhirabhitaḥ - surrounded on all sides by goddesses like aṇimā, etc; niṣevye nitye – Eternal and worthy of worship; tvām aham iti – who adores You within; sadā bhāvayati yaḥ - the one who contemplates You always; kim āścaryaṁ - what a wonder; tasya trinayana samṛddhiṁ tṛṇayataḥ - for him, who does not even care to attain the state of Śiva; mahā saṁvartāgni – the fire that arises at the time of annihilation; viracayati nīirājana vidhim – performing ārati;
“O! Devi! You are eternal and worthy of worship! There is no wonder in Agni performing camphor ārati to the one who perpetually contemplates Your ever radiating form, surrounded by aṇimā and other goddesses, as he does not even care to attain the state of Śiva.”
First, Śaṁkarācārya discusses about the Glory of Parāśakti and later he discusses about the state of Her true devotee. Parāśakti is always radiating, as Śiva is always within Her. Śiva alone is Self-illuminating and hence, He is adored as Prakāśa (illuminating) and Śakti only reflects His light to the world. She is known as Vimarśa (reflecting). Parāśakti is always radiating, as She is always with Śiva and the Light of Śiva gets reflected to the universe through Her. There are two situations about their union. One, She sits on His left lap and the universe gets illumination from Her as She diffuses the Light of Śiva to the universe. Second, She covers Śiva entirely and as He is within, it appears as if She radiates. They never remain separate. Because of Her closeness to the Lord, She becomes worthy of worship. Further, Śiva cannot act independently and He always needs Her to handle the affairs of the universe. Śiva has only a few functions like creating Śakti, handing over all His Powers to Her, merging those souls considered fit for redemption by Śakti and finally causing annihilation known as pralaya or reabsorption. Except these specific acts, all other acts are executed by Parāśakti. She always occupies Supreme position, as without Her presence, the entire universe comes to a standstill.
Next Śaṁkarācārya talks about Her attendants. She has innumerable attendants in Her Abode, Śrīcakra. Śrīcakra has nine enclosures and in each enclosure, there are several attendants (goddesses) servicing Her. The first enclosure is called bhūpura, also known as trailokyamohanacakra. The first enclosure alone has three walls and the first of these walls is guarded by ten goddesses known as siddhi devi-s. The names are these ten devi-s are: Aṇimā, Laghimā, Mahimā, Īśitva, Vaśitva, Prākāmya, Bhukti, Icchā, Prāpti and Sarvakāma. Generally, only eight are considered as aṣtamaśiddhi-.s and they are aṇimā, laghimā, parāptiḥ, prākāmyam, mahimā, īśitvaṁ, vaśitvaṁ and kāmāvasāyitā. Bhukti and icchā are two additional siddhi-s mentioned in Śrīcakra navāvaraṇa pūjā. This could mean two things in this verse. (1) If a practitioner contemplates just the outermost goddesses in Śrīcakra, he is held in high esteem and worshipped by even gods like Agni. This is because he is conferred with aṣtamaśiddhi-s by the goddesses in the outermost covering of Śrīcakra. (2) This devotee does not care about āvaraṇa devi-s, who confer various siddhi-s on him (apart from the miniscule aṣtamaśiddhi-.s) and proceeds straight to Parāśakti. He is not even bothered about liberation or merging into Śiva. His devotion has turned into pure love for Her and in appreciation of his unstinted love, She confers Her blessings on him. Her blessings mean ultimate liberation by making him to merge with Śiva. He never asked for liberation and all through his life, he was only contemplating Her in Her full Glory. Emancipation was conferred on him by Her. Emancipation means liberation from transmigration and this is possible only if one unites with Śiva. She made this possible for him, without him asking for it.
Such an aspirant is worshipped by all gods and goddesses. Śaṁkarācārya says that the most powerful Agni (Kālāgni) that is created for the exclusive purpose of annihilation worships him by showing camphor ārati (done at the end of a ritual). He attains such an impeccable status. Worshipping Her through one’s mind is the easiest way to attain Her. Once She is attained, liberation happens automatically.
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